Tomichan Matheikal's blog

The most sacred duty of our political leaders seems to have become hurling allegations against one another.  Turn to any news channel on the TV at any time and you will hear some politician accusing another one of some crime.  The Prime Minister accuses the Leader of the Opposition of chicanery.  The Chief Minister of Delhi accuses the Prime Minister of possessing fraudulent academic degrees.  In Kerala which is going to the polls next week, every candidate’s speeches are spiced with aspersions cast on the integrity of his opponents.  In addition to all the domestic laundry washing carried out in the public places, the Keralite is condemned to endure much laundry brought from Delhi by all the significant leaders including the Prime Minister. Moulding Kerala in the Modi way A Dalit student was raped and killed brutally (or killed and then raped, as reports have it) recently in Kerala.  The police carried out the mandatory investigation in the most perfunctory manner because

Three men were marooned on an uninhabited island.  As they sat desperate and disheartened, unable to find a way out of the dreadful place, the spirit of the island appeared to them.  Having had no association with human beings hitherto, the spirit was untouched by malice or evil.  “Make a wish and I can grant it,” offered the spirit genially.  “Get me back to my people,” wished the first man and his wish was granted instantly.  The second man too wished the same and he too joined his people back home.  “What about you?” the spirit asked the third man.  “I’m feeling so lonely here without those two friends.  I wish they were back here.” A good friend of mine made a couple of comments on one of my recent blog posts.  In one of the comments she suggested that I should learn to personalise success when I had argued that living in a world run by crooks and sharks good people would find success too elusive a thing.  A few minutes back she sent me a whatsapp message which implied that

Pitcairn Islands is a country whose history reads like a thriller.  It consists of four volcanic islands out of which only Pitcairn is inhabited.  The total population is 42.  That is, Pitcairn Islands is a country with 42 people: as big as an Indian joint family. The people of Pitcairn are the descendants of the Bounty mutineers as well as the Tahitians who accompanied the mutineers. ByRobert Dodd - National Maritime Museum The Bounty was a ship that was commissioned to collect and transport breadfruit from Tahiti to the British colonies in the West Indies.  During the five-month layover in Tahiti, indiscipline crept into the marrow of the sailors.  The idle mind is the devil’s workshop.  Back in the ship after a long and frolicsome sojourn on the Polynesian island, the crew met with serious disciplinary measures from Captain Lieutenant William Bigh.  However, it was the captain who ended up being punished.  The crew rebelled against him.  There was a mutiny on t

Courtesy: Lawlex Just ten days from the elections in Kerala, I’m left wondering who to vote for.  The UDF government that ruled the state for the last five years has almost ruined the state.  Scams and scandals haunted the government throughout its reign.  It appears that every Congressman in the state is either a money-guzzler or an accomplice of some swindler.  When the Opposition leader, nonagenarian V S Achuthanandan, alleged that there were many charges against the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy filed a defamation case for a damage of Rs 1 lakh.  Mr Chandy’s reputation cannot be very precious when the wily man had refused to file any defamation charge against Saritha Nair who went on hurling all sorts of allegations against him.  There seem to be very few Congressmen left in Kerala whose otherwise immaculately white, perfectly starched, khadi shirts are not tainted with variegated stains of corruption.  There are a few who are not corrupt in the traditional sense.  But t

The word became flesh And the flesh was nailed to the cross In a religious ritual On a mount called Calvary. Crucifixion became a ritual.  “Hey Ram!” Called out the flesh that was nailed again and again by owners of The Truth. The cry became the ritual.  “Shed the skin like a snake And regain your new self,” said the Buddha. Becoming snake became a ritual.  PS. Written for Indispire Edition 115 which had already extracted a post from me: Matching Heartbeats .  I'm obliged to write one more post on the theme by the latest posts at Indiblogger.  This is my response to some of the posts which I did not endorse at Indiblogger. #rituals

In a rather sentimentally titled article, The Saddest Trend , The Economist says that more and more people are committing suicide in the country of “inexorable progress.”  From 1999 to 2014, the suicide rates in America rose by 24%.  The article does not list any reasons.  America is a dream for many people in the world.  So many Asians are willing to sacrifice their lifetime savings in order to be able to migrate and live in America, the perceived paradise on earth.  America, the land of progress, the land of dreams, the zenith of human aspirations.  Yet the Americans are choosing to end their lives prematurely!  “Men shoot themselves, women take poison,” tells the article pithily.  Let the reasons be, whatever they are.  We shall wait for experts to analyse them. In the meanwhile, we may ask ourselves why is India, our country, leaving no stone unturned in following in the footsteps of this nation whose people are choosing death over life.  Don Quixote and Sancho Pa

The latest issue of Frontline has put women’s equality on the cover.  India, which dreams of being a political superpower, is still paradoxically grappling with discriminations of all sorts: caste, religion, gender, language, and what not.  We still have religious leaders like Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Sankaracharya of Dwarkapeeth in Gujarat, who preach such claptrap as that the recent firework accident in a Kerala temple occurred because of the people who demand equality for women with respect to temple entry.  We have political leaders like Pankaja Munde, Women and Child Development Minister of Maharashtra, who uphold the discrimination in the name of “tradition.”  The Dancing Girl of Mohenjodaro How long should we let ignorance and falsehood dominate religion?  The Shankaracharya’s teaching is sheer falsehood while the Minister’s reveals ignorance.  Both falsehood and ignorance have played a significant role in religion throughout its history.  Most religious t